Cbi. Not I, till I have sheath'd My rapier in his bosom, and withal Thrust these reproachful speeches down his chroat, That he hath breath'd in my dishonour here.

Dem. For that I am prepar'd and full resolvid, Foul-spoken coward! thou thundrest with thy tongue, And with thy weapon nothing dar'lt perform.

Aar. Away, I say.Now by the Gods, that warlike Goths adore, This petty brabble will undo us all; Why, lords--and think you not how dangerous It is to jet upon a prince's right? What is Lavinia then become so loose, Or Bastianus to degenerate, That for her love such quarrels may be broach’d, Withou: controulment, justice, or revenge? Young lords, beware--and should the empress know This discord's ground, the musick would not please.

Cbi. I care not, I, knew she and all the world; I love Lavinia more than all the world. Dem. Youngling, learn thou to make some meaner

choice e ; Lavinia is thy elder brother's hope.

Aar. Why, arę ye inad! or know ye not, in Rome How furious and impatient they be, And cannot brook competitors in love? I tell you, lords, you do but plot your deaths By this device.

Chi. Aaron, a thousand deaths would I propose, Toatchieve her I do love.

Aar. Toatchieve her-how?
Dem. Why mak'st thou it so strange ?

Not I, till I have ha b'd, &c.) This speech, which has been all long given to Demetrius, as the next to Chiron, were both given to the wrong speaker; for it was Demetrius that had thrown out the reproachfül speeches on the other. WARBURTON.

She

She is a woman, therefore may be wood;
She is a woman, therefore may be won;
She is Lavinia, therefore must be lov'd.
What, man! more water glideth by the mill
Than wots the miller of; and easy it is
Of a cut loaf to steal a shive, we know.
Tho' Baßianus be the emperor's brother,
'Better than he have yet worn Vulcan’s badge.

Aar. Ay, and as good as Saturninus may. [Afide.
Dem. Then why should he despair, that knows to

court it
With words, fair looks, and liberality ?
What, halt thou not full often struck a doe,
And born her cleanly by the keeper's nose ?

Aar. Why then, it seems, fome certain snatch or so
Would serve your turns.

Chi. Ay, so the turn were served,
Dem. Aaron, thou hast hit it.

dar. 'Would you had hit it too,
Then should not we be tir'd with this ado :
Why, hark ye, hark ye-and are you such fools,
To square* for this ? would it offend you then
That both should speed ?

Chi. 'Faith, not me.
Dem. Nor me, so I were one.
Aar. For shame, be friends; and join for that you

jar.
'Tis policy and stratagem must do
That you affect; and so must you resolve,
That what you cannot, as you would, atchieve,
You must perforce accomplish as you may,
Take this of me, Lucrece was not more chafte
Than this Lavinia, Bassianus' love;

• To square for this. To square is

-) To square is to quarrel. So in the Midummer Night's Dream:

they never meet But they do square.

STEEVENS.

A

A speedier course than lingering languishment 5
Muft we pursue, and I have found the path.
My lords, a solemn hunting is in hand,
There will the lovely Roman ladies troop:
The forest walks are wide and spacious,
And many unfrequented plots there are.
Fitted - by kind for rape and villainy ;
Single you thither then this dainty doe,
And strike her home by force, if not by words:
This way, or not at all, stand you in hope.
Come, come, our empress, with her sacred wit
To villainy and vengeance consecrate,
We will acquaint with all that we intend ;
And she shall file our engines with advice,
That will not suffer you to square yourselves,
But to your wishes' height advance you both. .
The emperor's court is like the house of fame,
The palace full of tongues, of eyes, of ears;
The woods are ruthless, dreadful, deaf, and dull;
There speak, and strike, brave boys, and cake

your turns. There serve your lusts, shadow'd from heaven's eye, And revel in Lavinia's treasury.

Chi. Thy counsel, lad, smells of no cowardise.

Dem. Sit fas aut nefas, till I find the stream, To cool this heat, a charm to calm these fits, Per Styga, per Manes vebor.-t

[Exeunt.

2

1 A Speedier course than lingering languishment] The old copy reads, -this lingering, &c.

STEEVENS, -by kind

-] That is, by nature, which is the old fignification of kind.

JOHNSON. -file our engines with advice,) i. e. remove all impediments from our designs by advice. The allusion is to the operations of the file, which, by conferring smoothness, facilitates the motion of the wheels which compose an engine or piece of machinery.

Steevens. † Per Styga, &c.] These scraps of Latin are, I believe, taken, though not exactly, from some of Seneca's tragedies. Steevens. ,

SCENE

2

3S CE N E II.

Changes to a Forest. Enter Titus Andronicus and his three Sons, with bounds

and borns, and Marcus.

Tit. The hunt is up, 4 the morn is bright and gray, The fields are fragrant, and the woods are green ; Uncouple here, and let us make a bay, And wake thc emperor and his lovely bride, And rouse the prince, and ring a hunter's peal

, That all the court may eccho with the noise. Sons, let it be your charge, as it is ours, To tend the emperor's person carefully; I have been troubled in my neep this night, But dawning day new comfort hath inspir’d. Here a cry of bounds, and wind korrs in a peal: tbex

enter Saturninus, Tamora, Bosanus, Lavinia, Chiron, Demeirius, and their attendants.

Tit. Many good morrows to your majesty.
-Madam, to you as many and as good.
I promised your grace a hunter's peal.

Sat. And you have rung it lustily, my lords,
Somewhat too early for new-married ladies.

Baf. Lavinia, how say you?

Lav. I say, no:
I have been broad awake two hours and more.

Sat. Come, on then, horse and chariots let us have,

3 The division of this play into acts, which was first made by the editors in 1623, is improper. There is here an interval of action, and here the second act ought to have begun. JOHNSON.

ehe morn is bright and gray,) i. e. bright and yet not red, which was a sign of storms and rain, but gray, which fortold fair weather. Yet the Oxford editor alters

g'ay to gay. WARB.

And

And to our sport.-Madam, now ye fhall see
Our Roman hunting.

[To Tamora.
Mar. I have dogs, my lord,
Will rouse the proudest panther in the chase,
And climb the highest promontory-top:

Tit. And I have horse will follow, where the game Makes way, and run like swallows o'er the plain. Dem. Chiron, we hunt not, we, with horse nor

hound, But hope to pluck a dainty doe to ground. [Exeunt.

Changes to a desart part of the forest.

Enter Aaron alone.

Aar. He, that had wit, would think, that I had

none,
To bury so much gold under a tree;
And never after to inherit it.
Let him, that thinks of me fo abjectly,
Know, that this gold must coin a stratagem,
Which, cunningly effected, will beget
A very excellent piece of villainy ;
And so repose, sweet gold, for their unrest,
That have their alms out of the empress' chest.

Enter Tamora.
Tam. My lovely Aaron, wherefore look'st thou sad,
When every thing doth make a gleeful boast?
The birds chaunt melody on every bush,

S-for tbeir unref,] Unréf}, for disquiet, is a word frequently used by the old writers. So in The Spanish Tragedy, 1605,

"Thus therefore will I rest me, in unreft.” STEEVENS. 6 That have obeir alms, &c.] This is obscure. It seems to mean only, that they who are to come at this gold of the empress are to suffer by it.

JOHNSON.

Tho